DISA OKs collaborative site for classified use

Forge.mil to enable cooperative software development

By Amber Corrin

Jul 30, 2009

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) today granted interim authority to operate (IATO) for classified use of its Forge.mil collaboration site. The collaborative environment is designed for easy cross-program information sharing and cooperative software development and will operate on the Defense Department’s classified SIPRNet. the agency said.

The site is available to the U.S. military, DOD government civilians and DOD contractors, according to a DISA press release.

“This was a remaining crucial capability to offer our DOD development community,” Forge.mil project director Rob Vietmeyer said. “With 2,200 users, 500 contributors with engaged development and 93 projects on Forge.mil, we’ll now be able to offer even more with this IATO for classified use up to secret.”

Users will be able to share system components and services and collaboratively develop open-source and DOD community-source software, DISA said. Forge.mil aims to enable faster development and deployment of new capabilities in support of network-centric operations and warfare, the agency has said.

DISA said it expects to launch four more components of Forge.mil in future releases. CertificationForge will support agile certification; ProjectForge will provide private project portals; StandardsForge will drive collaborative standards development; and TestForge will provide on-demand software testing tools.

FCW investigated efforts by the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to improve a joint data repository on military and veteran suicides. Something as impersonal and mundane as incomplete datasets could be exacerbating a national tragedy.